LISTEN HERE.

RELIEVER, OUT 2/7/20, PRODUCED BY NASHVILLE’S DAVE COBB AND WINNIPEG’S SCOTT NOLAN.

PRINCE JOINS YOLA ON TOUR IN UK, IRELAND AND EUROPE IN NOVEMBER.

 

 

For his eagerly-awaited sophomore album, songwriter William Prince begins with a single word, Reliever, which informs a collection of exceptionally rendered explorations of what, who and how peace is found. Relievers come in all forms; for Prince, it is song. With its emphasis on words and confidently unfussed accompaniment, Reliever puts Prince’s gift for sparking powerful emotions of both personal and communal relevance at the fore. A masterclass in skillful simplicity, Reliever works a generous and profound kind of magic.

 

Prince’s influences and references, from the gospel of his childhood to the pantheon of classic outlaw country singers, baseball and the great beyond, shape Reliever into a collection that approaches the big questions with humility and curiosity. At the edge of the ocean, between father and son, from stranger to lover, the album flows through the places and moments where real connections and healing happen. With the transformational power of letting go in songs such as “Always Have What We Had” and “Leave It by the Sea” to the all-consuming blaze of love in “The Spark,” Reliever finds many paths to the heart.

 

The complicated emotions that charge idealisms and realities of fatherhood are a central theme throughout Reliever. “I want to live to the second last day that my children do, selfishly so I can see them through” Prince sings on “That’s All I’ll Ever Become,” a sentiment of seismic love and dedication. “Wasted,” another album standout, echoes this purest unconditional love inwardly, to the child who is told he is loved no matter which path he chooses, and outwardly, to the listener, who is gently – and directly – spurred not to take this shuffle for granted.

 

To make Reliever, Prince reconvened with producers Dave Cobb in Nashville and Scott Nolan in Winnipeg, the team behind his JUNO Award winning debut and subsequent Glassnote Records reissue, Earthly Days. With the song “Breathless,” which found audiences worldwide and reached the B List at BBC’s Radio 2, Earthly Days introduced Prince’s poignant philosophy and rich baritone to the world. Prince’s trajectory from Peguis First Nation in Manitoba, Canada, to opening for Neil Young, has seen the relative newcomer find esteem and career-changing opportunity wherever he performs.

 

Reliever will be released in Canada via Six Shooter Records on February 7, 2020.

 

RELIEVER TRACK LISTING:
The Spark
Wasted
Reliever
Always Have What We Had
Old Souls
That’s All I’ll Ever Become
Leave It by the Sea
Lighthouse
The Gun
Heaven and Hell
Great Wide Open

 

TOUR DATES:

CANMORE, AB: Communitea Café, Nov 8
HIGH RIVER, AB: High River Masonic Hall, Nov 9
LETHBRIDGE, AB: Geomatic Attic, Nov 10
BERLIN: Music & Peace, Nov 16*
HAMBURG: Hakken, Nov 17*
MILAN: Santeria Toscana 31, Nov 22*
PARIS: Cafe de la Danse, Nov 18*
GLASGOW: Oran Mor, Nov 30*
DUBLIN: Olympia Theatre, Dec 1*
MANCHESTER: Gorilla, Dec 3*
LONDON: Islington Assembly Hall, Dec 4*
*w/ Yola

#1 Billboard Bluegrass Albums
#4 Billboard Heatseekers Albums
#1 New Releases, Bluegrass, Amazon USA
#1 Best Seller, Bluegrass, Amazon UK
#3 Americana Albums Chart, UK
#2 iTunes Albums Chart, Canada

 

CANADA SERVED COLD TOUR ROLLING NOW.

“Blazin’ banjos and heated harmonies. ****” (MOJO)

“The Dead South’s musicianship shines on Sugar & Joy” – Billboard

“Bluegrass experimenters The Dead South have never been content to play roots music the traditional way.” – Paste

“Masterful overall use of cello, mandolin, guitar and banjo in conveying their unique bluegrass feel.” – Ultimate Guitar

“Filled with wonderfully weird, vivid songs that range from barn burners to one-foot-in-front-of-the-other work songs.” – CBC Music

The Dead South have made a statement with Sugar & Joy, their first Billboard Bluegrass #1, out now via Six Shooter Records. For their third full-length record, the four-piece string band from Saskatchewan, Canada, traveled out of their hometown and comfort zone to Muscle Shoals, Alabama, where they convened with Grammy-winning producer Jimmy Nutt to make what has been lauded as their most compelling, complex and impressive work yet.

 

Sugar & Joy’s Billboard chart debuts include:

#1 on Bluegrass Albums
#1 on Heatseekers – Mountain
#4 on Heatseekers Albums
#7 on Americana/Folk Album Sales
#13 on Independent Albums
#15 on Emerging Artists
#35 on Top Current Albums
#40 on Top Album Sales

 

With strong iTunes chart showings in Canada, USA to UK to Sweden, Denmark, Australia and beyond, Sugar & Joy’s impressive success out of the gate – for a band that has flown relatively under the radar of bluegrass and Americana worlds on both sides of the Atlantic – attests to the robust and enthusiastic fanbase The Dead South have cultivated over a decade of dogged touring. Along the way, The Dead South have grappled with the physical and mental fallout of road life, addressed with love and care on the emotional “Crawdaddy Served Cold,” the only song on Sugar & Joy without Colton ‘Crawdaddy’ Crawford’s skillful banjo playing. In this way, Sugar & Joy shows a band hitting new creative heights while also processing their own journey.

On the new single “Black Lung,” built around a sturdy cello line and a stark stomp, the band approaches the theme of destructive labour from another angle, with a JC Ortiz-penned coal mining story that “echoes the long, sad grind of working in a job that’s slowly killing you and barely allowing you to eke out a living in return” (PopMatters).

The Dead South are currently on the road for the Canadian leg of their SERVED COLD tour, which lands in the USA in November. The Served Cold tour, which winds its way through Ireland, UK and Europe in 2020, will see more than 150,000 tickets sold worldwide.

CANADA SERVED COLD TOUR
EDMONTON, AB: Winspear Centre, Oct 23+ (SOLD OUT)
CALGARY, AB: MacEwan Hall, Oct 24+
SASKATOON, SK: TCU Place, Oct 25+ (SOLD OUT)
WINNIPEG, MB: Burton Cummings Theatre, Oct 26+
OTTAWA, ON: TD Place Arena, Oct 29~
TORONTO, ON: The Phoenix, Oct 31~
MONTREAL, QC: MTelus, Nov 1^
QUEBEC CITY, QC: Imperial, Nov 2^ (SOLD OUT)
FREDERICTION, NB: Fredericton Boyce Farmers Market, Nov 4^
HALIFAX, NS: The Marquee, Nov 4^ (SOLD OUT)
*w/ Andino Suns
+ w/ Legendary Shack Shakers
~ w/ Elliott BROOD
^ w/ Devarrow

 

USA SERVED COLD TOUR Presented by LiveNation Ones To Watch and SiriusXM Bluegrass Junction.
TEMPE, AZ: Marquee Theatre, Nov 24*
LAS VEGAS, NV: House of Blues, Nov 25*
SAN DIEGO, CA: House of Blues, Nov 26*
LOS ANGELES, CA: The Belasco Theatre, Nov 27*
SAN LUIS OBISPO, CA: The Fremont Theatre, Nov 29*
RENO, NV: Virginia Street Brewhouse, Nov 30*
SAN FRANCISCO, CA: The Fillmore, Dec 1*
SACRAMENTO, CA: Ace of Spaces, Dec 2*
PORTLAND, OR: Roseland Theatre, Dec 4+
SEATTLE, WA: Showbox SoDo, Dec 5+
SPOKANE, WA: Knitting Factory, Dec 6+
GARDEN CITY, ID: Revolution Concert House, Dec 7+
SALT LAKE CITY, UT: The Depot, Dec 9#
GRAND JUNCTION, CO: The Mesa Theatre & Club, Dec 10#
DENVER, CO: Mission Ballroom, Dec 12#
LINCOLN, NE: The Royal Grove, Dec 13#
KANSAS CITY, MO: The Truman, Dec 14#
CLEVELAND, OH: House of Blues, Jan 5#
BUFFALO, NY: Asbury Hall at Babeville, Jan 6#
BOSTON, MA: House of Blues, Jan 7#
BROOKLYN, NY: Warsaw, Jan 9#
PHILADELPHIA, PA: Theatre Of The Living Arts, Jan 10#
SILVER SPRING, MD: The Fillmore Silver Spring, Jan 11#
VIRGINIA BEACH, VA: Elevation 27, Jan 12#
CINCINNATI, OH: Bogarts, Jan 14#
LOUISVILLE, KY: Mercury Ballroom, Jan 15#
ASHEVILLE, NC: Orange Peel, Jan 16~
RALEIGH, NC: The Ritz, Jan 17~
CHARLOTTE, NC: The Underground, Fillmore Charlotte, Jan 18~
CHARLESTON, SC: Music Farm, Jan 20~
ORLANDO, FL: House of Blues, Jan 21~
FORT LAUDERDALE, FL: Revolution Live, Jan 23~
TAMPA, FL: The Orpheum, Jan 24~
ATLANTA, GA: Buckhead Theatre, Jan 25~
w/ Scott H. Biram*
w/ Elliott BROOD+
w/ The Hooten Hollers~
w/ Legendary Shack Shakers#

 

IRELAND AND UK SERVED COLD TOUR
DUBLIN, IE: Vicar Street, Feb 18
BELFAST, UK: Ulster Hall, Feb 19
GLASGOW, UK: O2 Academy, Feb 21
NEWCASTLE, UK: O2 Academy, Feb 22
MANCHESTER, UK: Academy, Feb 23
BIRMINGHAM, UK: O2 Academy, Feb 25
PORTSMOUTH, UK: Guildhall, Feb 26
LONDON, UK: Brixton Academy, Feb 27
NOTTINGHAM, UK: Rock City, Feb 28
EXETER, UK: Great Hall, Feb 29

 

EUROPE SERVED COLD TOUR
ANTWERP, BE: De Roma, Mar 24
UTRECHT, NL: TivoliVredenburg, Mar 25
HAMBURG, DE: Docks, Mar 27
COPENHAGEN, DK: Amager Bio, Mar 28
OSLO, NO: John Dee, Mar 29
STOCKHOLM, SE: Debaser Strand, Mar 30
BERLIN, DE: Columbiahalle, Apr 1
HANNOVER, DE: Capitol, Apr 2
LEIPZIG, DE: Werk 2, Apr 3
PRAGUE, CZ: Palac Akropolis, Apr 4 (SOLD OUT)
VIENNA, AU: Gasometer, Apr 5
ZURICH, CH: Volkshaus, Apr 7
MUNICH, DE: Tonhalle, Apr 8
FRANKFURT, DE: Batschkapp, Apr 9
COLOGNE, DE: E Werk, Apr 11
PARIS, FR: La Cigale, May 12
LAUSANNE, CH: Les Docks, May 14
MILAN, IT: Serraglio, May 16
MADRID, ES: Moby Dick Club, May 21
VALENCIA, ES: Sala El Loco, May 22
BARCELONA, ES: La Nau, May 23

Watch a new video from The Northern South Vol. 2 here.

FALL TOUR DATES INCLUDE SECRET PATH LIVE, IQALUIT SHOW AND ONTARIO DATES.

Melissa McClelland joins Women’s Blues Revue in Toronto. Roy Thomson Hall, Nov 29.

Whitehorse presses on with new vinyl editions of the duo’s most recent releases, which include the JUNO Award nominated holiday album, A Whitehorse Winter Classic (only the fourth holiday album to receive a nomination, alongside Sarah McLachlan, Michael Bublé, and Jess Moskaluke). The album, reviewed by Rolling Stone, Los Angeles Times, PopMatters and more, took the road less traveled in holiday music with 10 original songs that celebrated family and togetherness while taking stock of the ups and downs that come with the season.

 

The band’s second instalment of The Northern South project, released in full in January 2019, dealt a hand of blues bops, sexed up cuts and hellfire gospels rewritten for our modern apocalypse. With an eye on the end-of-days and Whitehorse’s ear for blues grooves, The Northern South Vol. 2 expanded the universe of the Northern South to with foreplay, foreboding, fever and Fenders — plenty of them — on cuts from Howlin’ Wolf, Willie Dixon, Jimmy Reed, Slim Harpo and more. The vinyl edition features both volumes 1 and 2 for a complete (thus far) collection.

 

This fall, Whitehorse’s will be on the road in Ontario, with additional appearances at Gord Downie’s Secret Path Live in Toronto, the Women’s Blues Revue (Melissa McClelland only) and at Inuksuk High School in Iqaluit.

 

TOUR DATES:

TORONTO, ON: Gord Downie’s Secret Path Live, Roy Thomson Hall, Oct 19 w/ Buffy Sainte-Marie, July Talk, William Prince and more.
ELLIOT LAKE, ON: Lester B. Pearson Civic Centre, Nov 2
NORTH BAY, ON: The Capitol Centre, Nov 5
ST. CATHARINES, ON: FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre, Nov 7
PICTON, ON: Regent Theatre, Nov 8
MEAFORD, ON: Meaford Hall, Nov 9
LONDON, ON: Wolf Performance Hall, Nov 12
IQALUIT, NU: Inuksuk High School, Nov 16
TORONTO, ON: Women’s Blues Revue, Roy Thomson Hall, Nov 29

STREET LEVEL VIDEO PREMIERE: BRAND NEW CLIP FOR ALBUM’S TITLE TRACK, DIRECTED BY JENNIFER BAICHWAL AND NICK DE PENCIER (ANTHROPOCENE, LONG TIME RUNNING), NOW PLAYING IN SOUNDSCAPES’ WINDOW.

WATCH IT HERE.

“This resolutely unconventional Canadian sextet resumes production of intoxicatingly crafted sonic spaces and vivid imagery on its first album since 2004.” – Big Takeover Magazine

Bash through the trees at canis lupus level with “Here Come The Wolves,” a new video for the title track to Rheostatics’ album, out today.

Directed by Jennifer Baichwal and Nick de Pencier, the team behind Anthropocene (TIFF’s Best Canadian film this time last year) and Long Time Running, the video for “Here Come The Wolves” captures the song’s multitudes. With a grindstone-hewn art rock brutalism, the team uses the forge as metaphor for lyrical themes, which speak to the grinding crush of authoritarian power, and analog for the band itself, the industrial moil of being a band for nearly four decades.

Then, the video melts into abstraction as Tielli takes over and the song dissolves into moonlight ripples. Acoustic guitar, shivery strings and poetic misanthropy. In other words, signature Tielli.

To wrap it up, Rheostatics swing back around into shiny 70s pop rock. At last night’s in-store album release, Q&A host Laurie Brown asked each band member to describe their favourite moments on the album by others; Bidini zeroed in on Tim Vesely’s harmonies at the song’s conclusion.

Stay tuned to hear the complete conversation on a future episode of Laurie Brown’s Pondercast.

ABOUT MERCURY FILMS

Jennifer Baichwal and Nick de Pencier, the founders of Mercury Films Inc., have been making award winning, critically acclaimed documentaries and films for two decades. Their subjects are eclectic, skewed to art and philosophy, and try to extend formal boundaries without being inaccessible.

TOUR DATES

OMEMEE, ON: Coronation Hall, Nov 15
CREEMORE, ON: Avening Hall, Nov 16
OTTAWA, ON: NAC Theatre, Nov 22
ST. CATHARINES, ON: First Ontario, Nov 27
LONDON, ON: London Music Hall, Dec 3
BAYFIELD, ON: Old Town Hall, Dec 5
TORONTO, ON: Danforth Music Hall, Dec 6

LISTEN HERE

FREE PERFORMANCE AT SONIC BOOM ON SEPTEMBER 5, 7-9pm. Q&A HOSTED BY LAURIE BROWN OF PONDERCAST.

New video from team behind “Anthropocene” documentary coming in September.

City of Glass, hall of mirrors: “Vancouver,” a swooping birds-eye view of a city constructed in memory and imagination, is the third cut from Rheostatics’ Here Come The Wolves out in advance of the album’s September 6 release date. The dizzying pacific cynic travelogue builds and flutters around Martin Tielli’s vocals, a hypnotic and delicately jittery opener to the band’s first new record in over a decade.

To mark the album release, Rheostatics announce a free in-store performance and interview with broadcaster Laurie Brown of Pondercast podcast at Toronto’s Sonic Boom. The public event will take place Thursday, September 5, 7-9pm. Capacity is limited, first come, first served.

Look for a new video for the title track, directed by the team behind the Anthropocene project feature documentary, in early September.

HERE COME THE WOLVES TRACK LISTING:
Vancouver
AC/DC on the Stereo
Rearview
Here Come the Wolves
It’s the Super Controller!
Music is the Message
Diamonds on Our Toes
I Wanna Be Your Robot
The Beautiful Night
Goodbye Sister Butterfly
Albatross
Mountains and the Sea

TOUR DATES

TORONTO, ON: Sonic Boom, September 5, 7-9pm. FREE.
OMEMEE, ON: Coronation Hall, Nov 15
CREEMORE, ON: Avening Hall, Nov 16
OTTAWA, ON: NAC Theatre, Nov 22
ST. CATHARINES, ON: First Ontario, Nov 27
LONDON, ON: London Music Hall, Dec 3
BAYFIELD, ON: Old Town Hall, Dec 5
TORONTO, ON: Danforth Music Hall, Dec 6

WATCH HERE

‘CANADA SERVED COLD’ FALL TOUR ON SALE NOW.

 

A rock band without a drummer, a bluegrass band without a fiddler. To the gentlemen of The Dead South, a self-styled 4-piece string band from Regina, Saskatchewan, it’s about how, not what, you play. The Dead South’s combination of cello, mandolin, guitar and banjo has all the hallmarks of a group tuned to bygone times, but with their signature sleight of hand, The Dead South find distinctly ­modern bathos in this old time rigging.

Today, the band announces their third album, Sugar & Joy, coming October 11, 2019 via Six Shooter Records. In “Diamond Ring,” released today, poor William, whoever he is, done got robbed by a would-be groom trying to impress his betrothed. Money doesn’t buy love, but it does buy the ring. “Diamond Ring” comes with a new video directed by frequent collaborators, Regina’s Two Brothers Films.

 

Watch “Diamond Ring,” directed by Two Brothers Films (Regina, SK). 

 

In The Dead South’s world, characters do what they must, even when twisted logic leads them astray. From the opening galloping strum to the lower register cello and backing vocals, the song’s moody mania captures The Dead South’s stock-in-trade, stories of desperation and bad decisions told in fast-paced, brightly-laced bursts. 

Sugar & Joy, The Dead South’s tightest, weirdest and most exciting studio work yet, is their first album written and recorded outside Regina. The album was produced by FAME Studio-trained Jimmy Nutt, a longtime member of the Muscle Shoals music scene whose recent credits include a Grammy for his work on The Steeldrivers. “They have an obvious dedication to what they are doing,” says Nutt. “They really encourage each other, which you don’t see a lot.”

A Bauhaus-via-bluegrass stomp and minor-key mandolin tremolo of “Alabama People,” which finds the universal in the hyper-regional, could not have been written anywhere else but at The Nutthouse. With equal parts empathy and fear, The Dead South have channeled their experience in the fraught, beautiful south into an outsider, observational anthem.

The ongoing question of what is, or is not, bluegrass music, occasionally froths up in The Dead South’s wake as they speed on to the next gig. Cue “Blue Trash,” a song built on a perfectly bluegrassy banjo lick about…not being a bluegrass band. “Blue Trash” is a love letter – not apologia – to the purists, for The Dead South come in peace.

Sugar & Joy will be released on October 11, 2019.

 

TOUR DATES:

SUMMER CRAWL 2019

EAU CLAIRE, WI: Blue Ox Music Festival, June 15

PERRANPORTH, UK: Bands in the Sands, June 21

TUNBRIDGE WELLS, UK: Black Deer Festival, June 22-23

OXFORD, UK: O2 Academy Oxford, June 25  

NORTHAMPTON, UK: Roadmender, June 26

BATH, UK: Komedia Bath, June 27

GLASTONBURY, UK: Glastonbury Festival, June 29-30

CALGARY, AB: Big Rock Brewery, July 6

NORTH PLAINS, OR: Northwest String Summit, July 18- 21 

JACKSONVILLE, OR: Britt Pavilion, July 21  

RENO, NV: Virginia Street Brewhouse, July 22  

MORRISON, CO: Red Rocks Amphitheatre, July 24 w/ Trampled By Turtles

SANTA FE, NM: Santa Fe Brewing Company, July 29

DALLAS, TX: Gas Monkey Live, July 30

TULSA, OK: Cain’s Ballroom, July 31

ST LOUIS, MO: Atomic Cowboy Pavilion, August 1

ST. CHARLES, IA: Hinterland Music Festival, August 2-4

REGINA, SK: Regina Folk Festival, Aug 9-11

 

CANADA SERVED COLD TOUR 

VANCOUVER, BC: Commodore Ballroom, Oct 19 + 20 

EDMONTON, AB: details coming soon.

CALGARY, AB: MacEwan Hall, Oct 24

SASKATOON, SK: TCU Place, Oct 25

WINNIPEG, MB: Burton Cummings Theatre, Oct 26

OTTAWA, ON: TD Place Arena, Oct 29

TORONTO, ON: The Phoenix, Oct 31

MONTREAL, QC: Telus, Nov 1

QUEBEC CITY, QC: Imperial, Nov 2

HALIFAX, NS: The Marquee, Nov 4

*NEW* USA SERVED COLD TOUR (on sale 6/28)

TEMPE, AZ: Marquee Theatre, Nov 24

LAS VEGAS, NV: House of Blues, Nov 25

SAN DIEGO, CA: House of Blues, Nov 26

LOS ANGELES, CA: The Belasco Theatre, Nov 27

SAN LUIS OBISPO, CA: The Fremont Theatre, Nov 29

SAN FRANCISCO, CA: The Fillmore, Dec 1

SACRAMENTO, CA: Ace of Spaces, Dec 2

SEATTLE, WA: Showbox Sodo, Dec 5

SPOKANE, WA: Knitting Factory, Dec 6

GARDEN CITY, ID: Revolution Concert House, Dec 7

CLEVELAND, OH: House of Blues, Jan 5

BUFFALO, NY: Asbury Hall at Babeville, Jan 6

BOSTON, MA: House of Blues, Jan 7

BROOKLYN, NY: Warsaw, Jan 9

PHILADELPHIA, PA: Theatre Of The Living Arts, Jan 10

SILVER SPRING, MD: The Fillmore Silver Spring, Jan 11

VIRGINIA BEACH, VA: Elevation 27, Jan 12

CINCINNATI, OH: Bogarts, Jan 14

LOUISVILLE, KY: Mercury Ballroom, Jan 15

ASHEVILLE, NC: The Orange Peel, Jan 16

RALEIGH, NC: The Ritz, Jan 17

CHARLOTTE, NC: The Underground at the Fillmore Charlotte, Jan 18

CHARLESTON, SC: Music Farm, Jan 20

ORLANDO, FL: House of Blues, Jan 21

FORT LAUDERDALE, FL: Revolution Live, Jan 23

TAMPA, FL: The Orpheum, Jan 24

ATLANTA, GA: Buckhead Theatre, Jan 25

IRELAND AND UK SERVED COLD TOUR 

DUBLIN, IE: Vicar Street, Feb 18

BELFAST, UK: Ulster Hall, Feb 19

GLASGOW, UK: O2 Academy, Feb 21

NEWCASTLE, UK: O2 Academy, Feb 22

MANCHESTER, UK: Academy, Feb 23

BIRMINGHAM, UK: O2 Academy, Feb 25

PORTSMOUTH, UK: Guildhall, Feb 26

LONDON, UK: Brixton Academy, Feb 27

NOTTINGHAM, UK: Rock City, Feb 28

EXETER, UK: Great Hall, Feb 29